Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 175
175 ch. 7:60), so that people may have no suspicion and at the same time, there may remain some inlet for air. All these facts make it clear that it was absolutely impossible for the. Messiah to die. A man would breathe his last while rising from his seat, or would kick off while halting in his walk, but this is a different thing. The point under discussion is that, generally in the circumstances, in which the Messiah was placed, people did not die but would live and the death of Jesus under these conditions was utterly impossible. . From the beginning to the end, the people who remained with him were either his followers or friends and well-wishers and did all they possibly could to save him. Again their solicitude for him is also evident from the fact that, after the. Messiah had been removed from the Cross and placed in a sepulchre, when the Jews pleaded that guards be placed there for three days and three nights as the Messiah had claimed that he would rise like Jonah after three days and three nights,. Pilate refused to detail official guards, saying "Ye have a watch go your way, make it as sure as ye can" (St. Matthew, ch. 27:65). Pilate's refusal was due to the consideration that if official watch was placed, the Messiah would not be able to get away, and in case he clashed with the centurions, it would be an act of resistance to the government, and that private watch would be easy to handle. . The subsequent events also support the conclusion that the. Messiah did not die on the Cross. . MESSIAH GOES INTO HIDING. If, as the Christians hold, the Messiah was resurrected, then he had surely become the Son of God. In that case, he could have no fear of men. But the New Testament says that after the incident of the Cross, he used to go about